Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

I've heard talk about how ATT is "working on their network coverage" and plans to provide 3G service in Northeast MI "in the coming months". Well, now that another 2 year contract has expired, I'm seriously wondering if I would be better off jumping to Verizon. The EDGE data network up here if virtually useless. 5 full bars, yet extremely poor data transfer.

Can anyone provide an HONEST answer as to when this coverage is planned to be upgraded??? Verizon has had 3G for quite a long while up here...

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

One thing that's interesting is that GM announced this week that they have picked AT&T over Verizon to provide in-vehicle LTE service starting next year. That is unbelievable considering the current huge difference in current LTE coverage from both carriers. AT&T must be making the refarm of their spectrum a reality for nationwide LTE coverage.

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

The AT&T tower that is supposedly to be upgraded by June 29 is just south of town (Pickford). It has a long gated driveway that is full of snow and has not been bladed off all winter. So obviously no activity on upgrading to 4G this winter. Hope to see some activity soon.

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

With AT&T trying to play catch up with their LTE buildout, I think upgrading rural areas to HSPA+ are on the back burner now. They announced a while back that they will be dropping their 2G(EDGE) in 2016 but I bet they push it back 5 years or so. Heard from a distiguished member of this forum that his reliable source is telling him that Verizon LTE will go live in Gaylord and the surrounding areas by the end of this month.

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

Not sure what is going on here. Today, I was driving south on 129 from Sault Ste Marie, and they were trenching underground lines heading south. They had around five miles done with another five miles of orange flags,

I wonder if this is a line to the ATT tower south of Pickford. And then may be laying line on down to Cedarville, and east to Drummond Island?

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

Was the line they are putting underground orange?? If so that is fiber. If you get a chance stop and ask. Usually those guys are pretty friendly and will tell you where they are running it. I would think they would have ran a fiber line to Drummond years ago instead of copper to ensure they would never have any capacity issues in the future.

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

Yes, it was orange. They were moving right along with laying the line. My guess is that they want to get the line run while the ground is fairly froze so they don't have to work in the mud in a few weeks.

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

It is indeed fiber. The contractors that run the lines move along pretty good and I bet they will be done long before AT&T upgrades the equipment and antennas on the tower. They are investing a lot of money in Michigan this year on their wireless network.

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

There is one tower near Onaway, Michigan in NE MI that now has active HSPA+ "4G". Also, Alpena is being tested by Alcatel-Lucent engineers and should have active HSPA+ within on month. There have been problems with hand-offs on the UMTS/GSM fringe areas.

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

Interesting that they would upgrade one tower near Onaway and not build out from other areas of existing 3/4G service. I wonder if N.E. Michigan could now be a test area for AT&T using refarmed PCS and Cellular spectrum which could account for the UMTS handoff issues in that area. Those areas won't be seeing LTE anytime soon but their HSPA+ is a huge improvement for everyone up there. I also heard from a distinguished member on another forum that Verizon is testing LTE in the Gaylord area and should be live soon

Re: Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

Drove to Saginaw yesterday down I75. Was on Edge from just south of Gaylord all the waY to just north of Bay City. Wow, that's 100 miles of basically no data coverage. My Onex would not even load a web page.

I am hearing some rumblings that the Eastern UP will be getting some big time expansion from Verizon this summer. Combined with the rumored AT&T expansion, we may finally be getting some decent data coverage. Fiber lines are laid from Sault Ste Marie to M80. Hopefully they cross the highway and keep heading south.